In recent years, there are increasing cases where a black and white image is printed on monochromatic printing paper from a color negative.
In particular, in newspaper offices and news agencies, use of a color negative for printing on a monochromatic light-sensitive material has been rapidly increasing, since better cost performance can be expected if color photogravures and monochromatic prints can be prepared from the same color negative.
Monochromatic printing paper on which an image is printed from a color negative is required to have higher contrast and spectral sensitivities to blue, green and red light.
To satisfy these requirements, a light-sensitive material for monochromatic printing paper is spectrally sensitized by several kinds of sensitizing dyes in large amounts.
Japanese Patent Publication Open to Public Inspection (hereinafter referred to as Japanese O.P.I. publication) No. 259554/1988 discloses that safe light property and graininess can be improved by spectral sensitization to a specific wavelength region. Meanwhile, the present inventors disclose in Japanese Patent Application No. 123288/1989 that photographic properties and safe light property can be improved by controlling a relative sensitivity of each color-sensitive region.
In these techniques having no bleaching process for desilvering, quality of developed images is sometimes liable to deteriorate due to stain caused by residual dyes.
Consequently, there is required a monochromatic light-sensitive material having excellent photographic properties and safe light property, and free from color stain.